The morning after this year's presidential election, four Global Kids students and one educator traveled to Morocco to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP22.

The group went to as many UN events as possible, but learned that youth were often not included in the major United Nations climate meetings.

According to GK Leaders Kate Scherer and Mai Nguyen,

"While often felt left out because of our age, we found other ways to learn, grow and make our voices heard."

From informal chat sessions with fellow climate activists at their youth hostel to marching in a 350.org sponsored climate rally to leading interactive workshops on climate justice issues for fellow youth climate activists at the American School in Marrakesh, the GK Leaders made their voices heard.

One of the highlights of the trip was a luncheon with Ambassador Dwight Bush at the US Embassy in Morocco.

After their packed week of climate change activist work, the group took an overnight trip in the Sahara.

Click
here to read Kate and Mai's blog post about their roles as youth activists at COP22 on The Huffington Post.

In response to concerns about the presidential election results, Global Kids hosted a "Teach-In" with our high school students, staff and expert speakers. The event created a space for the youth and adults to discuss their concerns and learn about their rights.

Racism, immigration, Russian relations, Muslim registry, deportations, prejudice and foreign policy were among the many issues the students raised during the evening.

At the end of the event, students told us what support and guidance they want from Global Kids in the coming years.

John Adams High School Meditation Room

John Adams's Assistant Principal, Dr. Silverman speaking at the opening of the school's new meditation room

After nearly a year of planning and preparation, John Adams High School opened its new state-of-the-art mediation room providing innovative mindfulness, health and wellness supports at the school.

"Mindfulness meditation has been a passion that I've enjoyed sharing with students. With all that goes on inside and out of the classroom, it's been my goal to find a safe space free from noise and distraction," says John Adams High School's Assistant Principal, Dr. Silverman. "I could not be more pleased with the teamwork that has resulted in this beautiful, serene room."

Global Kids, the lead community school partner at John Adams High School, helped the school transform a dark, unwelcoming room into a peaceful retreat for students and staff alike.

"Students don't enter school with one problem, and there isn't one solution that will work for everyone,"says Tiffanie Lewis-Durham, Global Kids' Director of Community Schools. "We need different methods to respond to the issues students and staff face and a comprehensive mindfulness program at the school is a unique and creative way of addressing mental health issues."

GK Trainer Iram Jabbar leading a Girl Hack workshop at Curtis High School

This fall, Global Kids introduced a new digital media program, "Girl Hack," for girls grades 9-12 at John Adams High School, Curtis High School, William Cullen Bryant High School and High School for Art and Design.

The program explores domestic and global girls and women's issues through game design and computer programming. The program covers the historical, current and future challenges women and girls face throughout their life cycle including child marriage, global standards of beauty, access to education, water and sanitation, reproductive health rights, workplace discrimination, unemployment and more. Participants are exposed to how these issues are addressed through a human rights framework.

Throughout this year, participants are exploring these issues through a project-based curriculum in which the students produce digital campaigns, animations and games. The students are mastering computational thinking and employing this skill to code their own original games and media.

GK Leader presenting on her experiences in Japan at the GK talk back event

Global Kids hosted a "talk back" presentation with the students from our summer Japan trip. Global Kids Leaders form the Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists talked about how they taught their Japanese peers to dance the "Bachata," a traditional Dominican dance. Others spoke about their homestay families and how they saw first hand the damage from the tsunami on the towns of Onagawa and Ishinomaki and the renewal efforts there. The students presented their geo-locative game they created with their Japanese peers as a tool to assist tsunami-affected residents.

Their incredible summer trip was made possible by the support of the US-Japan Foundation, the Japan Foundation and ELS.

Middle Schools Election Day Activities

GK middle schoolers learning about voters' rights on Election Day

Global Kids' middle schoolers are too young to vote, but that didn't stop them from being active participants in the election process. On Election Day morning, Global Kids students from Q300, Manhattan East and School for Human Rights learned about election rules in the United States.

In the afternoon, GK middle schoolers visited Madison Square Park to encourage adults to vote and then find out why they were voting.

Global Kids-DC Goes on College Tours

GK Leader at Virginia Commonwealth University

Global Kids
-DC took 45 GK high school students on college tours throughout Virginia, including Hampton University, Norfolk State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Virginia and University of Mary Washington. In order to gain insights into the college admissions process, GK students spoke with the schools' admissions counselors. They also met with some Global Kids alumni at the schools to find out more about college life.

Global Kids has been empowering students through youth leadership and global education programs for over 27 years. Help us continue our important work.

Make your donation to Global Kids today!

We are proud to announce that Global Kids will be presented with the NEA Foundation's highest honor,
The First National Bank of Omaha Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education at their gala on February 10, 2017.